Pushing Seeds Into the Mud

The last five days have been about nothing but dirt, sweat, plants, and exhaustion.  It seems that every year, towards the end of May, all my months of careful garden planning turn to panic and chaos.  This time was only different in that the obstacles have upped their game a bit.

 

This year's trouble actually began last year with a broken tiller and lack of funds to replace it.  Granted, it was secondhand (to say the least) and a tad over 40 years old…..but still, broken!  Why?!  <---- sarcasm

 

Non-surprisingly, that issue did not correct itself over the winter.  After much angst and debate over what to do, it finally dawned on me to get in contact with the gentleman I bought the original tiller from.  As luck would have it, he happened to have another one for sale for an extremely reasonable price.   I swear it is even older than the first (and definitely looks it), but it runs like a charm.

 

In the meantime, we’d also run into trouble with a dramatically broken lawnmower (don’t ask), and I suppose the weedwacker was feeling left out, because it bit it, too.  And let me just say for the record, cutting the grass with a machete is incredibly stupid……but having the grass at such a height that the machete thing actually works?  Yeah, not fun.  Suffice it to say, there was a period of nearly three weeks that I couldn’t even see the garden beds, let alone get them ready for planting.

 

But now it’s all FINALLY coming together and nearly everything is planted.  I’m mostly going with what has become standard for my garden:  purple beans, black tomatoes, white cucumbers, mini peppers and more herbs than I can actually find room to plant.  I am also trying winter squash and mini watermelons for the first time this year, so *fingers crossed*

 

All in all, it’s been a fairly normal (well, my normal anyway) start to the gardening season.  Chaos, angst, dirt-stained fingernails, scratches, scrapes, bruises, and insect bites are pretty much always to be expected.  But all of that is eclipsed by the sheer joy of lots and lots of plants, rocks, wildlife, and thoughts of the bounty still to come from all this hard work.

 

Now, I don’t suppose there’s any possibility I could hibernate until harvest time?

 

Plotting, Planning, Pondering

Snowflakes, icicles, and the rustle of bare branches in the chill December wind…it’s beginning to look a lot like…...garden planning time.

 

I suppose it’s totally a plant geek sort of thing, but there’s nothing I love more on the most bitter of winter days than to dig out the new seed catalogs and daydream about the garden to come. 

 

And it does require an awful lot of planning.  You know that old saying, it seems everyone has heard it at some meal from a parent or grandparent over the years, about your eyes being bigger than your stomach?  I am pretty much constantly afflicted with the gardening version of that.  Can I grow enough beans for a few decent cannings, plus eight varieties of (multiple) tomato plants on the paltry 1/8^th of an acre my house sits on?  Probably not.  Will that stop me from trying?  Well…..it hasn’t so far.

I’ve no real idea yet of what I’m going to grow this year.  I have my favorites of course, the ones that after much trial and error have become garden necessities:

Royalty Purple Pod Beans, as gorgeous as they are yummy. 

Miniature Red Bell Peppers, quick growing, space saving, prolific, and the best tasting of sweet peppers.
Nyagous Tomatoes, one of the tastiest and most reliable black tomatoes I’ve ever tried.
Trifetti Peppers, the only fruiting plant that I grow entirely for it’s beauty, and how amazingly well its leaves press and dry.

 

Other than those few standbys, I don’t know.  But I do know that outside there is already a blanket of snow on the ground, temps that didn’t quite make it out of the teens, and yet another incoming weather advisory.  It is definitely time for a hot cup of tea, a snuggle up on the couch, seed catalogs, and the dreams of a sleeping garden.